This disclosure relates to a surgical instrument with an adjustable rotary cutting tool and to a method of cutting using the tool.
During surgery, rotary cutting tools, such as reamers, are often used to shape and/or enlarge holes or openings in various tissues, including bone. The tools are usually connected by a chuck, collet, or the like, to an electric drive unit that applies relatively high-speed torque to the tool. However, when multiple holes of varying diameters have to be reamed in the same patient, it is necessary to replace each tool with a tool of the proper size.
This problem is especially acute in connection with medical procedures, such as hip and knee replacements, in which canals, or sockets, are prepared in bones to receive implants. It can be appreciated that the canals must be formed with high precision and in as short a time as possible. However, after one canal is formed with a particular tool, the surgeon must remove the tool, select the proper size tool for a new canal and secure the selected tool in the collet, which is tedious and time consuming.
Therefore, what is needed is a single tool that can cut different size bores without having to be replaced.